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The 2013 version of Quicken is trying to keep pace with its increasingly mobile customers sporting smartphones and tablets.

Intuit's popular desktop personal-finance and portfolio manager has just released a new mobile menu choice that loads account data to a Quicken cloud database (quicken.intuit.com). There, it's synchronized with transactions entered in Quicken's new mobile apps for Apple, Google Android, and Amazon Kindle tablets and smartphones. Users also can check account balances and budgets, and get bill reminders and other e-mail alerts.

With consumers rapidly substituting mobile systems for desktops, data syncing has become a big deal. Users expect mobile devices to have instant information updates, a challenge for complex, data-heavy applications like Quicken. Its features are the most comprehensive in personal finance and investment tracking.

There were a couple of kinks in the new system for some. Accountant Rod Couts, who jumped on the new version the day of its launch, reported difficulties synchronizing. "It was frustrating because I've been waiting 10 years for mobile access," says the owner of Seaside Resources, a small-business accountancy in San Diego. "I travel all the time, so entering transactions on the road is huge for me"—because he can use his time more effectively and have up-to-the-minute information. His syncing glitch lasted only a day, as Intuit offered a couple of quick software updates.

I found the module's execution as good as the famous fit and finish of Mint, the more basic, Web-only money-management system that Intuit purchased in 2009. Another pleasant surprise: the improved operation of the software's longstanding direct-connect facility. It lets you download stock-market data and transactions from multiple financial institutions to the desktop in one step. About 14,000 institutions now download information into Quicken.

Many financial companies don't support direct connect, preferring to drive customers to their own Websites. But the largest institutions have become more supportive. American Express just came on board. Mint has its own network of 17,000 supporting financial institutions that also can now connect to the Quicken cloud. As a result, Quicken users have a greater chance than ever of painless data updates for all of their accounts.

The Quicken cloud is modeled on Mint, in one of the synergies Intuit realized by acquiring the company, reports Mint founder Aaron Patzer, now Intuit's vice president of innovation. The more modest Mint has added brokerages to the array of banking and credit accounts for which it provides up-to-the-minute information.

INVESTORS CAN GET STILL-DEEPER views into their portfolios, and many more analytics than Mint provides, from SigFig, another free site with a similar syncing methodology. But SigFig focuses on investments, and doesn't cover all of the credit, banking, and other account types that Mint does.

Quicken's stablemate has pushed past 10 million subscribers, reports Patzer, more than twice the number of Quicken users. Once the top-selling software of any kind, Quicken now has five versions, two of them among Amazon's top sellers.

At $70 with an Amazon discount, Quicken Premier 2013 is reasonably priced for software, but seems pricey compared with free sites like SigFig or Mint that are supported by fees for user referrals to investment-product partners.

Mint and Quicken prices reflect their differing audiences, says Patzer. Mint users tend to be younger, have fewer assets and accounts, and are interested in money-saving offers from Mint partners. Quicken users are older, have higher net worth, more accounts, and greater tax complexity. Many, like accountant Couts, use Quicken to manage small businesses.

Which is right for Barron's readers? All of them. Quicken is a must-have; it's an independent information container that the user controls. Its personal finance, investing, and tax-reporting tools are unparalleled. But it's easier for users on the go to get more timely updates on more types of accounts with Mint, while SigFig's mobile apps provide more portfolio information.

Not yet in place is a way for Mint users to upgrade to Quicken as their assets and needs grow. Some day, says Patzer, but not quite yet.